Drifting Cloud
by Idees
Summary: Skull had drifted through life, and still is. Her life before Skull was never mentioned. But before Skull was a girl named Emilie who was on the run with a strange Italian man. The man who taught her everything she knew. Female Skull. Pre-Arcobaleno. Rated T for some language and such.
1. Chapter 1

**Drifting**

 **AN: I DO NOT OWN KHR.**

 **Also, apologies to those who follow my other** **pics. It will be awhile before i update them.**

 **BetaReader Honorable Mention: QueenofRhymes.**

 **Chapter 1: Before**

Skull could remember the moment vaguely - the day she discovered Dying Will flames. She was an awkward transfer student from California to a school in Paris, the name of which she couldn't recall very well. Skull could remember the jeering from her fellow classmates since she was little, and Paris was no ddifferent. After all, Skull had to live through constant bullying and ridicule, and was generally friendless.

Her aunt, technically her mother's former bestfriend, took care of her. Her biological parents had been part of a clique of five friends. Aunt Selena was, ironically, in love with Skull's father. Her father, on the other hand, couldn't see any of his friends that way. Said man had had a series of one night stands one of which was with Selena's best friend, Patricia. The result was a splintered friendship, a dead friend and an unexpected child.

Unfortunately, neither of Skull's parents or family members wanted anything to do with her, and the only person who bothered with her was Aunt Selena. However, their relationship was not on a personal level. Her biological parents had each their own little, joyous family to take care of and she, the one who was before Skull, hated it. Somewhere deep inside of Skull grew a resentment towards people. There was a hatred for contact and crowds, and most of all, a strong need to get rid of everything in her way.

Skull despised people, despised living and despised herself, in general. However, that day in Italy, when she discovered the flames, she had forgotten everything in a moment; an unfortunate bystander to what was a scene of a mafia war; the only one who remembered the incident and who had seen how it started. For once in her life, Skull had felt significant.

"Hush." A voice whispered from behind. The owner of said voice's hand was currently covering the girl's mouth.

"If they find out you're alive, they'll kill you." The man uttered. The girl nodded hesitaintly, but didn't say anything in response.

"Good. Now, I want you to quietly step backwards, small steps, or else you'll attract unwanted attention." The man explained in the same quiet tone he had previously used.

Nodding, the girl in her teens stepped slowly back. She gazed carefully around into the dark, narrow alley, while the man said bluntly, "Right, brat. You seem like a smart girl, so I'll help you out. if you do the same for me, capice?"

Taking the girl's silence as a positive answer, the man grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards a backdoor inside an empty office building. It seemed as if someone had broken the lock beforehand. The girl allowed herself to be dragged by the man through the entrance, giving the man and her surroundings a passive gaze. Pushing a bag filled with clothes towards her and a small booklet of some kind, he indicated for her to get changed. The girl simply stood there. Since time was running out and her lack of actions was starting to get on his nerves, he commanded:

"Brat, hurry up and get dressed! You're too young to be of any interest to me, I assure you"

There was still no reaction. The man looked towards her and sighed. " Come on, put the clothes on. You are going to play the role of the girl in that passport."

The teenager opened the passport and saw a picture of a girl that looked quite similar to her. The name written on it was Emilie Argon, who had both an italian and French background. Shrugging, 'Emilie' placed the passport down and procceeded to get dressed. The Italian man kept looking out of the window. Once he was finished, he explained:

" You'll play the role of my younger sister."

Noticing that 'Emilie' was finally dressed, the man grabbed two suitcases and a duffelbag. He shoved one of the smaller bags in her arms, grabbed her passport, then gripped her arm and dragged her along. After that, he walked out of the front door of the office, which opened up to another street. Said street was still deserted, but Emilie had no doubt that it wouldn't stay that way for long. The man walked carefully towards the other end of the street where an old, blue Mini Cooper sat.

'Emilie' scrutinized the car, before she was unceremoniously pushed into the vehicle. The man seemed uncaring of her mental state and procceeded to get in. He was swift in starting the car and driving off, no doubt trying to get away from the conflict. Emilie watched him quietly, as he drove around corners and sharp turns, but her mind was occupied by the strange occurance that happened behind. All she could seem to remember was sitting at a coffee table and seeing this same man walk in. He had sat down at the table next to hers and half an hour later she had heard screaming. She had also seen men with strange coloured flames that appeared out of nowhere. There were too many coloured flames for it to have been normal.

"How good are you at using your cloud flames?" The man's voice startled her.

 _' Cloud flames?'_ she thought, watching the man curiously. He noticed her bewildered gaze and frowned, asking, „You've never actually used your flames before, have you?"

Emilie said nothing, deciding to keep her thoughts to herself. The man did not look directly at her when she had remained silent. Judging by her lack of answer, his assumption was true. With a small smirk he whispered his conclusion to himself, "Hmmm, well. It doesn't matter...much."

Naturally his lack of patience returned he felt the need to voice his displeasure when she had neglected to answer him once more by demanding:

"Brat, I actually expect a response from you when I ask you something, got it?!"

'Emilie' nodded, flinched and said instead " Yes sir!"

The man glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, before returning his focus on the road.

'Emilie' shifted slightly, but refrained from fidgeting. She was confused as to whether she was doing the right thing or not. Technically, this could be considered kidnapping, but 'Emilie' couldn't find it in herself to care. She wondered why he had choosen her of all people, but she wasn't complaining. There was a spark inside her, one that felt impatient and excited. One that made her want to fight and yet, walk away. And for some reason, Emilie had the strange desire to say, " I'll beat them to death."

The man gave a snort followed by a slight chuckle, before he replied, " Well, at least we know you are actually a cloud."

'Emilie' was startled by his words. She had had no intention of saying that outloud. The man's face turned quickly into a frown.

"Unfortunately, now that you are involved, you're gonna need trainning. I have no intention of my little sister dying on me." He said.

'Emilie' made a face at the choice of his words. It seemed like the man was already placing himself in the role of her older brother.

"Okay…" The Italian man said nothing further, seeming more concerned with the road and driving than participating in a monologue. Sighing, 'Emilie' directed her attention towards the scenery that was changing quite fast as she thought _,_ _'This is going to be one long ride.'_

Several hours had passed before the car finally came to a complete halt at a small hotel. It was in quite a bad state of disrepair, but it looked liveable compared to its surroundings. 'Emilie' wondered slightly to herself just what was wrong with her to be doing this so freely and willingly. Naturally, a girl her age would've been kicking, screaming, even fighting to get away. But, all she did was go along with it. So many bad things could happen to her, especially given her age.

 _'But you know what?'_ _,_ Emilie thought to herself before she smirked and enquired, _' What is life without a few risks?'_

The Italian man had grabbed the suitcases and was already unlocking the door.

 _' If humans as a race never took any risks_ _;_ _never found anything to live for, where would we be today?'_

Emilie slowly made her way towards the door.

 _'Dead. That's where._ _'_

' _We would've never have evolved to this point_ _._ _if all we did was stand around and cry. Many great leaders wouldn't have_ _become who they were or accomplished what they did,_ _if they hadn't taken risks.'_

Emilie stopped in front of the door.

 _'The outcome is not always benefical. But...in the end...Who the fuck cares!? I won't stop here because it's scary!'_

She smirked as she opened it.

 _'Plus. I do enjoy risks.'_

The contemplating youth stepped through the door, closing it behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

Drifting Cloud

Chapter 2

The Sound that Echoes

Emilie watched Eleuterio, her brother, in a bemused manner.

"So…" She began hesitantly, "You need my help because you just pissed off a former allied familgia by discovering that they were betraying your familigia? You also want to use me as a cover to get to Italy without raising suspicion? Did I get that right?"

Eleuterio only nodded in response, too busy looking through a book, titled 'Training the Lackey' by an author with a peculiar name. Just looking at that book sent shivers up Emilie's spine. She had a bad feeling that the term on the cover would permanently be associated with her, and that said book contained nothing good for her future. Another reason for the sudden rush of coldness through her being was that she couldn't help but think that the training exercises in a humor book should be death defying, humiliating, and painful and life scarring.

Emilie watched Eleuterio for a while longer, before standing up from the hotel bed and asking:

"Which bag contains clothes that would fit me?"

Eleuterio yet again did not bother to look up from the book he was currently preoccupied with. He did, however, manage to point towards a bag to his left, which had a pink tag on it. Emilie simply rolled her eyes at his antics before she grabbed the bag and marched towards the bathroom. Taking one last glance at Eleuterio, she stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

The bathroom was small. All it consisted of was a small bath, a toilet, a sink and a shower. There was a big mirror hanging on top of the sink. Emilie shuffled over to it awkwardly. Once she was in front of the damn thing she glanced at her reflection and frowned. Deciding not to think about her appearance for too long, Emilie focused solely on opening the bag only to promptly scowl afterwards. Most of the clothes inside were cute, fluffy pieces of attire that the girls at her school usually wore, which actually made Emilie question the sudden coincidence.

'How is this guy so readily prepared? How did he know which size and exactly which type of clothes to get?'

Frowning, Emilie decided she would not dwell on it now, but simply confront Eleuterio about the matter later. Meanwhile, she grabbed a pair of warm pajamas and placed it neatly on the counter, then undressed and climbed into the shower. The bathroom soon started steaming because of the pleasantly hot water and it wasn't long before everything was fogged over.

When Emilie stepped out of the bathroom, she noticed that Eleuterio was still distracted by the damn book. This time, however, he was writing somethingdown into a notebook. Emilie watched him continue said activity for at least a few minutes before he finally glanced at her.

"What do you know about flames?" He suddenly asked. His eyes seemed to catalogue every movement Emilie made before and while she answered, which was downright rude and only served to unnerve her further.

"Nothing." She uttered. There was no hesitation in her rather abrupt answer. Eleuterio gazed at her for a while longer, then sighed.

"Right. Basics firsts." Eleuterio iterated before he placed the notebook down and began explaining, " The mafia world is mostly governed by whoever is the strongest, which is usually the Vongola. Most people would only tell you about the basic six flames found in the mafia, since they consider those the only official flames and that there is only one group of flames. But in truth, there are seven flames for each group and those groups are Earth flames, which we won't be going over, and Sky flames."

Eleuterio took another deep breath, before he continued," Sky flames are split into the Seven Flames of the Sky, which in order are: Sky, Storm, Rain, Sun, Lightning, Mist and Cloud. You'll only need to know about Cloud, for now."

Eleuterio then took a ring out of his pocket, placed it on his finger, and then made a fist. As a result a strange, purplish flame started to appear. He then said:

"Luckily for you, I am a Cloud user. I'm usually known as Eleuterio the Dashing."

Emilie nearly facepalmed when he stated the last bit. Her reaction made Eleuterio chuckle and say smugly, "I'm quite handsome, I know. No need to be shy over your big brother, Emilie."

Emilie made a face, while she watched the Italian man gush over how cute she looked in her sleepwear and her beautifully braided hair. She frowned and muttered under her breath. "This is just creepy on a whole different level. Somehow, I think I'm glad he isn't my father. I feel sorry for whoever has to deal with someone like this as a father."

Somewhere in the future, Sawada Tsunayoshi sneezed.

"Right, so tomorrow my adorable sister is going to have her first lesson on how to use cloud flames." Eleuterio informed her with a fairly straight face throughout most of it. However, just when Emilie thought he was going to be serious, he started squealing like the girls at her school.

'Maybe I followed a complete idiot or something. Damn mafia people are hard to read.'

Emilie frowned, ignored Eleuterio and climbed under the sheets of the twin bed she had previously occupied.

'Well, atleast I get to use those flames.' Emilie thought before she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep easily.

When Emilie woke the next day, it was to a bucket of ice-cold water. Eleuterio was standing above her with an unusually serious expression on his looked at him at first in an annoyed manner. However, once his features remained as stoic as before, her gaze turned from irritated to questioning. Her confusion was soothed when he said:

"Upsie-Daisy, Emilie. We have a long day ahead of us."

Eleuterio then turned away from the bed. Emilie groaned for her rest having been disturbed and her bed was currently dripping wet. Once her annoyance had fully subsided, she slowly stumbled out of bed and made her way to the bathroom to get dressed.

Emilie glanced at herself in the mirror. Her braid was slightly loose, her eyes were dull from sleep and the ever-present bags were covering her eyes like black eye shadow. She was fair skinned, tall, lanky and had a bust that was slightly wider than her hips. It was a body most of the girls she attended school with envied. She, on the other hand, hated it. Any physical activities required Emilie to tie her breasts down in order to avoid being beaten black and blue by those engorged pieces of hell. She envied the girls with no figures because they never had to worry about whether certain clothes fit them or not. Though wearing baggy clothes was good at covering up her figure, it also made her look chubby, which was something she was not particularly fond of.

"Hey, brat. Hurry up in there. We got to go." Her older brother suddenly called, startling her out of her thoughts.

"Coming." Emilie hollered back after which she quickly donned a plain black shirt and jeans, before grabbing her bag and running to the car outside. Eleuterio was already sitting inside, waiting for her impatiently. While Emilie was busy fastenening her seatbelt, Eleuterio had already pulled out of the parking lot.

"You'd better not make this a habit, brat." He grumbled, while his eyes were fully concentrated on the road.

Most of the morning in the car ride was spent in silence. It was not until midday when Eleuterio started talking again.

"Right, Emilie. I want you to listen carefully. We don't have a lot of time to practice, but I'll be going over a few things that you need to know about cloud flames before I can start teaching you how to use them."

Emilie nodded in response, waiting patiently for him to continue with his explanation, which he soon did.

"Right, cloud flames are purple flames. They have the ability of propagation, which is the ability to multiply and reproduce."

The first thought that popped into Emilie's head from that statement was the biology lessons she had taken.

'Cells?...Hmmm, that's an idea.' She thought as she smirked.

Obviously, that was all Eleuterio had to say on the matter, since he was more focused on taking a turn off the road and onto a dirt path than continuing his explanation. There were trees that blocked the road out of view, and if it weren't for the Italian, Emilie would've never noticed it. The road was bumpy andhad many twists and turns. It seemed quite difficult to navigate it. At that moment she was slightly glad she wasn't the one driving the car.

Eventually they came to a stop in a clearing; one that had a view of the surrounding valley.

"The car won't be discovered until a few days. Hopefully, by then we'll be on the other side of the forest." Eleuterio uttered before he grabbed all the bags and threw them down near a path going down the slope. He then looked at Emilie before saying:

"But for now, we are going to train you to be able to actively call out cloud flames." He then smirked and growled out, "Brat, be prepared."

* * *

 **A/N:** That's the end of the Chapter! :D My third one is already written, but all of you have to be patient, since it still needs to be beta-read. :) It would be appreciated if you left a review, I'm curious to what your taken on the story is. I'll try my best to update as often as I can and get to atlas five chapters before the end of the year. Unfortunately, I'll only be focusing on this story for now, even though I wish to continue with my others and publish new stories.


	3. Chapter 3

Drifting Cloud

Chapter 3

Through the Forest

Emilie huffed and panted as she stumbled after her brother with a red face. The small brunette was trying quite unsuccessfully not to trip over the tree roots and other obstacles littered in her way.

"At this rate, Emilie, there won't be a forest left for us to walk – or in your case – stumble through." Eleuterio glanced back at her pointedly before directing his attention towards something off to the side of her. Curious, she followed his gaze towards a small bush that had been lit up with her cloud flames. She sheepishly turned and said. "Sorry…"

Eleuterio just sighed in exasperation, "It's ok, brat…" He then gained a contemplative look. "I've never actually seen or heard anyone who was as apt as you to unconsciously emit cloud flames. Well, not so instinctually. "

The Italian man then directed his attention fully back to her. With A vague look of consternation on his face he uttered,"Brat, if you're immune to your own flames…"

He trailed off while Emilie was busy trying to put out a small cloud flame that was sitting innocuously on her head.

'It is still quite unusual for someone to be able to call their flames forth so easily…' He watched in disbelief as Emilie nearly set a tree on fire. With widened eyes and then a small sigh and slump of his shoulders he asked 'What have I got myself into?'

Emilie looked up toward him, a bashful smile on her face.

Eleuterio didn't know what to think of her. Normally, girls in her position would have screamed, cried or tried to escape. She for some unknown reason chose not to do any of that. Needless to say such a pattern of behaviour unnerved him. Another thing that set his nerves aflame was that she was a quiet, shy teen who was as graceful as a donkey. Yet when he looked at her eyes, he could see something lurking behind the mask she wore daily. Something dangerous. It had not fully awaken yet, but one thing was for certain - the potential for a truly powerful cloud guardian was there. This could be a blessing, or a curse for the girl.

'If something goes wrong, horribly wrong…' The Italian man frowned. '…Then I fear it would damage and scar her for life. Especially if she loses someone she trusts…'

Eleuterio glanced at Emilie, before his frown deepened. 'It could effect her in such a way that she would struggle to harmonize with a sky.'

Shaking his head, the Italian man just turned his attention back towards the trail. 'Well, it doesn't matter. She's my little sister and I'll do everything I can to protect her, even if it means I have to plunge her into the dark world of the mafia.'

"Eleuterio, what's the matter?" Emilie asked from beside him. Her gaze locked onto him, curious. It was almost innocent in a way.

"Nothing, Emilie. Just planning ahead." The Italian answered, then sighed. "We are going to have to increase our pace. I don't think we should stay in here any longer then we have to."

The girl frowned at his response, confused. "Why's that?" She finally asked, almost huffing when a curly bang flew into her face. Eleuterio gave her a look and stated, "Because it is always a good idea to be several steps ahead of your enemy."

The Italian mobster then turned and ignored Emilie the rest of the way, leaving her to trail after him in utter and, needless to say, awkward silence.

Emilie almost collapsed in exhausted relief. The last five days within the forest was mind-numbingly painful and shattering. She had spent the last five days alternating between being beaten black and blue (it couldn't even be considered a one-sided fight, that's how bad she was) and stumbling through theforest. She had slept on the cold, hard, unforgiving ground. The worst of it all was not the stumbling or the training, but the fact that Eleuterio had been cold and harsh to her after she tried talking to him. Not to mention that training was far more brutal than the first time she had done it. What made things even more unbearable was that he had made no attempt to talk to her, nor did he display any of his usual antics that she was used to. It hurt. A lot.

Sighing, Emilie turned to lie on her stomach as she watched Eleuterio move around the house. The owners weren't home, probably on vacation judging by the car in the garage, and the teen wondered what they would think when they returned to a broken-in house with a car missing. They would most likely call the police, as it was expected.

Their home would be considered beautiful and expensive by social standards. It was relatively big and sported furniture that was considered to be 'latest fashion'.

Eleuterio passed by the room Emilie was in and stopped before he slowly made his way back to the doorway. "You okay, brat?" He asked simply.

Emilie just stared at him, her eyes narrowing in concentration. "What's it to you?" She spat, a rare moment of anger welling up.

The Italian froze and asked cautiously, "Emilie, have I upset you in any way?"

Emilie made no effort to reply. She just narrowed her gaze further. Eleuterio scowled at her childish display before retorting, "Fine. You can throw a fit, but while you're at it, you can make yourself useful and go sit in the car. We're leaving soon."

His tone had reverted back to the gelid and distanced tone it had gained. He left the doorway to continue with whatever he was doing, while Emilie was internally seething. She did not understand why he was being so callous with her, nor did she approve of it.

Growling, Emilie jumped off the bed and soon regretted it. She moaned and hissed. Her muscles screamed in agony, nearly causing her to collapse on the floor. Her eyes were tearing up, but after a few minutes of calming herself, she got used to the pain and carefully stood up and walked to the car.

Huffing, Emilie tried to open the vehilce's door only to realize after a few tries that it was locked. "Of course. It can never be easy." She mumbled to herself, then turned around and returned into the house.

The kitchen was the first room she walked into. It was really fancy and needless to say, quite big. It had a half-filled backpack of food on the counter. There was another backpack leaning against said counter. It was empty. Emilie assumed Eleuterio was the one who brought them out, while she made her way towards the keys on the counter. She almost came to a standstill when she heard something fall. When no other sound followed, she shrugged, grabbed the keys and almost made her way out before she glanced at the two bags.

"Hmmmm, maybe I should finish the packing…" Emilie contemplated this for awhile, then shook her head. "Nope. If that bastard was a bit nicer to me, I would've finished his packing." With a small, but confident smirk, she left the kitchen.

It was only a few minutes later when Eleuterio had reversed the car out of the garage, that Emilie realized something was wrong.

"Hey, Eleu… What were you doing inside the house?" She asked nervously.

The Italian looked at Emilie in confusion as he answered, "I was using their landline phone to contact someone. It's a less risky way of getting into contact with some people I know. Still quite dangerous, though, and could possibly lead the mafia to us."

Emilie stared at him blankly for a while, leaving the Italian man very bewildered and frustrated. He watched her for some time, but her expression did not change. Shrugging, he placed his foot on the petrol pedal and drove the car out of the neighborhood. Emilie just glanced back at the house with a silent look of horror and realization on her face. After a moment, she quietly spoke. "There was someone else in the house with us, Eleu."

Eleuterio allowed a grim look to flash across his face. The rest of the ride was spent in silence.

Eventually the siblings came to a stop at a little cafe on the main street. Eleuterio still looked grim. Correction, grimmer than in the car and he seemed to twitch at every movement people made. Frowning, Emilie threw her gaze around the room, spotting several couples and groups of friends. She felt out of place in the room, especially sitting next to a grumpy, tense mafioso which she was glancing warily at.

* * *

 **A/N: Chapter 3 done. :) This is a slow chapter, but the next chapter will include someone very familiar, I'm not saying who though. Please review on your thoughts about this chapter and anything else.**

 **Ciao Ciao**


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